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Monthly Archives: April 2013

We blogged last week about three colour trends we are working with at the moment, and we have another one to add.

This week we’ve been creating fabulous rainbow-inspired arrangements in solid blocks of colour, almost like a paint chart. It’s a very fashion-led look: designers are showing similar blocks of colour on the catwalks and it translates well into floral design.

We did an event on Thursday on the Silver Sturgeon boat with Jamie Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts where we used simple white vases of differing heights and widths to create contrast and a look that wasn’t too formal and regimented. Each one was filled with a single variety of English Country Flower in the colours of the rainbow:

Red Roses

Pale Yellow roses

Lilac

Blue hydrangeas

Lime green roses

Orange ranunculus

The central piece is you classic green and white to make those bold colours really stand out. We don’t know about you, but we think this bold spectrum of colour feels really fresh and exciting.

Now that gardens are starting to shake off the dullness of winter and we are seeing vibrant daffs & tulips and emerging blossom and primroses, our thoughts are turning to colour and the trends that we see being big in 2013. Classic white is never go to be out of season but other TBR predictions for this year are Monochrome, Vintage Shades and Bright & Bold.

1. Monochrome

Taking a lead from the catwalks of Marc Jacobs and Dior where this starkly stylistic look was built around the classic combination of black and white, we too have recently used Monochrome with great impact in our floral designs. The first picture above show how we have used different textures in white and green and a black highlight. These flowers include roses, hydrangeas, dill and anenome in a glossy black vase.

2. Vintage Shades

We blogged recently about the Vintage theme being increasing popular this year due to the forthcoming release of Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby. This translates beautiful into floral arrangements. Recently we’ve been using lots of beautiful faded antique and delicate vintage colour palates. It’s a great way to use pinks and lilacs without being too twee. The second picture above shows shades of purple in hydrangea, lizzies, aster, roses and lilacs. It’s important to use the right kind of base for something like this. Here, we’ve gone for something akin to an antique punchbowl.

3. Bright and Bold

Our third big trend this year is using bright colours that really pack a punch. Like colour blocking in fashion, using what are essentially clashing shades we can create a real impact. Here, we have used a mix of yellow roses, pink cymbidium orchids and lilac and purple lizzies. Don’t be afraid of colour!

Here we are in April – a little hard to believe with the weather we’ve had to date, but it looks like Spring is finally in the air. We have three favourite flowers to use in April. They’re all quite delicate in form and colour:

1. Sweet Peas – these highly scented flowers originated in Italy in the 17th century. Known by their Latin name as Lathyrus odoratus (meaning ‘pea’ and ‘fragrant’), these flowers are unrelated to the edible pea plant and instead symbolise something much more romantic: blissful pleasure.

These pink and purple blooms were immortalised by Keats in the following verse:

“Here are sweet peas, on tip toe for a flight

With wings of gentle flush o-er delicate white,

And taper fingers catching at all things

To bind them about with tiny rings”.

2. Pink Cherry Blossom – originating in Japan, there is a centuries old tradition of welcoming in the warmer weather by picnicing under the blooming cherry blossom. Known as ‘Hanami’, it is of such national importance that the Japanese Meteorological Agency tracks the approach of the approaching change in climate on the nightly news.

The delicate flowers symbolise the ephemeral nature of life: the blossom’s extreme beauty set against its tragically short duration.

3. Snowdrops – closer to home, the Snowdrop is also known by its Greek name Galanthus (meaning milk flower). This is one of the first bulbs to flower in Spring and as such, it a symbol of hope and renewal. According to legend, it became so when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. When Eve was about to despair that the cold winter would never end, an angel appeared and transformed the snowflakes into snowdrop flowers, showing that winter eventually always gives way to Spring.

This is a first hand account from one of our brides Amy Billington-Li on her big day. It was featured as Wedding of the Week in bridesmagazine.co.uk

Amy says: “We wanted the theme to be modern and glamorous, but romantic and full of our personalities.We were certain we wanted a London wedding however when my Mum introduced us to Wotton House in Dorking close to my family home it felt right.

On the wedding day, we married indoors in the ‘Library room’ lined with roman columns and arched gothic ceilings which was filled with candles, and decorated with leafy branches and flowers.

For the reception we decided to custom create a marquee in my parents garden to allow us to create the space to our tastes. I was bought up in Hong Kong and we wanted to inject our passion for the Far East into our wedding.We did this in the details of the wedding including carrying Chinese parasols, lanterns in the garden, we named our tables after Hong Kong train stops, we gave away fans and decorative chopsticks as party favours.Our wedding cake was adorned with sugar Singapore orchids.Our reception entertainment was a lion dancer performance.”

We’ve been thinking about Easter flowers and whilst we love cheerful, seasonal Daffodils, we’ve come across a flower that has a special Christian symbolism: the Passion Flower.

This exotic looking bloom’s physical attributes were adpoted by Spanish missionaries in the 15th and 16th century as symbols of the last days of Jesus and the crucifixtion. Otherwide known as ‘The Passion of Christ’.

The most striking feature of the flower is it’s similarity to the crown of thorns